When crimping, a connector i.e. a terminal, splice, contact or a similar device is mechanically secured to at least one cable—e.g to a conductor such as a wire—by deformation so that a solid joint having reliable mechanical and electrical connection is formed. The crimping operation resulting in a crimped joint is performed using crimping dies. Crimping tools may e.g. be hand operated.
In hand operated hand held crimping tools, the crimping tool is usually arranged with two proximally on the crimping tool arranged handles which are movable in relation to each other, where when the user brings the handles towards each other using hand force, usually using one hand only which when placed around both of the handles is squeezed together, the usually distally on the crimping tool arranged crimping dies are brought together in order to crimp at least one workpiece between them.
Crimping tools of the above mentioned kind may be arranged with an open head or a closed head. In a tool having an open head, the head has to be much stronger than in a tool having a closed head in order to withstand the same amount of maximum crimping force, this due to that an open head design is less rigid than a closed head design and will flex more easily during crimping.
A crimping tool with a closed head will thus be lighter than a crimping tool with an open head designed for the same amount of maximum crimping force if the crimping tools are made of the same material, this resulting in less load on the user.
A crimping tool with an open head shows on the other hand the advantage that it is possible to e.g. crimp together the ends of two very long wires and thereafter to remove the crimping tool away from the crimped wires without having to pull the crimped wires through the head of a crimping tool as in a tool having a closed head. Further, if the “non-crimped” ends of the two crimped wires are not free which e.g. is the case when these ends already are fixed to e.g. a respective electrical distribution box, it is impossible to remove the crimped wires after crimping from a tool having a closed head.
DE 298 03 336 U1 shows a hand crimping tool with a head which head may be opened up when crimping is not in progress in order to be able to move a workpiece sideways into the head and in order to facilitate the exchange of crimping dies. The head is kept closed during crimping.